Ouch! That's the attitude by outsider's that I am used to hearing about New Yorker's, that judge us without really knowing us. We live in a tough, fast paced environment, that results in developing certain traits that others perceive as being rude, when the complete opposite is true...many of us are the most generous individuals on earth, that will give you the shirt off their back to help you, but at the same time expect professional competency 'on-the-air'. Which TRACONS are busier than the New York one?
There are tough, fast paced environments all over the world, not just in New York.
So why don't they all devolve into similar NYC style attitudes? From what I understand LON has more total traffic than NYC, but that's not really the point I was trying to make. These days many major airports have exceeded the traffic levels in effect when JFK first earned their reputation. If a tough workload and fast paced action in any way necessitated or benefited from the New Yorker attitude then presumably JFK would become the standard all over the world by now. In my view the main issue wasn't that JFK did it "wrong" so much as they did it different, which sometimes lead to unintended consequences when dealing with disparate cultures from far flung locations.
These days it's less of a problem, due in part to changes in pilot training and industry homogenization, but there was a time when it had the serious potential to contribute to major incidents and accidents. Also, just for the record, you can be rude while also being generous and professional. There is nothing that makes any of those traits fundamentally exclusive to the others. Which is kind of my point. You can be professional without getting snippy toward each other. For proof you only need to look
outside New York.
